Pagan Elevator Rides

Greetings from ConVocation 2015  Journey's End: A New World Begins!

We promised updates during the convention, so here's one! There will be SO much more coming, because this year's session offerings have been especially synchronicitous (yeah, I think I made that word up). I mean...we literally just decided on the drive here that we want to write a book, and when we got here we found not one, but two sessions being offered on pagan publishing! But more on that later. This is a brief story about loving our pagan peeps.

So, there we were. We stood in the fourth floor hallway of our hotel, waiting for the elevator. I flipped through the program to figure out what room our next lecture was in, pausing to admire my new garnet Goddess ring. He shuffled in his combat boots while hitching up his kilt to fix his kiltpin. Elevator traffic seems to escalate between scheduled sessions and meal time was just winding down--so we had to wait five minutes or so.

When the elevator door finally opened, it was full to bursting. An awkward moment ensued, while we decided whether to push and shove ourselves in or wait. We could tell the folks already on board were here for ConVocation, and not only by their nametags. They accessorized like pagans. A very tall man in the back wore a black three-piece suit with no shirt under the vest and an ankh large enough to choke an aardvark on his necklace. A heavyset lady wore a long, silk skirt with a corset and roughly twenty dozen bangles on each arm. Six or seven others in colorfully, wonderfully odd attire stood half smiling at us, probably amused at our conundrum. The corseted lady forced the standoff to a conclusion:

"There's always room for kilts!" she yelled, waggling her eyebrows at Mr. Moonyak.

Everyone laughed and we shoved on in. It was almost like hugging. It smelled like hippies. We felt right at home, knowing that our welcome into the little remaining space was entirely sincere.

"At least it's warm in here," remarked someone else...which is funnier if you know that it's been below zero and snowy in Detroit this week.

"That's me reaching under your kilt!" I think that was the first lady again.

The elevator pinged on floors three and two, but at floor one there was no ping. Everyone could feel everyone else waiting for the ping, but the seconds passed and the doors stayed closed. Then came the voice of my beloved--his best melodramatic War of the Worlds radio voice:

"And there was a dramatic pause, as they waited for their release..." Everyone giggled.
Someone intoned, "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!"
 Now all bets were off.

"Let my people go!"

"Release the Kraken!"


That's all. The door opened and we all went our separate ways, smiling. I just wanted to write the incident down as a sort of paean to my community. I mean, how many times have you been on an uncomfortable elevator ride, even if it wasn't so crowded you could lick three people by just turning your head? Welcoming acceptance, THAT is where it's at.

ConVocation

Is there any relief to be found in winter? Short of taking a hair drier to the permafrost, there is respite to be found! The journey will be all of 7 hours, around the southern tip of Lake Michigan and shooting over to Detroit--or Dearborn, to be precise.

What (beyond warmth) could interrupt a blissful hibernation? A four-day convention, it is a heady mix of indoor Pagan Spirit Gathering and things uniquely ConVocation: tons of classes, lecture with a huge dash of community, wares, and just plain awesome folks.

I remember clearly when we arrived our first year. It was dark and, being out-of-town visitors, we were a little lost. Then we spied a group of folks with cloaks, capes, and staves... "I see our people!" Ms. Moonyak remarked. Indeed, I thought as we parked our rental. It was amazing how our sense of unease turned to relieved comfort once we knew we’d found the pagans.

It had been a harrowing journey of strange unidentifiable smells, icy roads and enormous potholes. We were happy to check into our hotel and wend our way to the site. What confronted us was... well, the full-on pagan community experience. Ahhhh!...like sliding into a warm tub filled with bubbles :-).

Unlike in daily life, at ConVocation interesting people, ideas, garb and conversation constitute the rule not the exception. I love my pagan community--always a mind broadening experience. The first night we attended a lecture entitled “Ancient Celtic Religion” which was presented by Kirk Thomas, Senior Priest  and current Archdruid of Ár nDríaocht Féin (ADF). ADF is an international neodruidic organization based in the US, in case you didn’t know. A solidly academic, informative. and thought-provoking session, his lecture set the tone and expectations for the balance of our time there.

The next day, popular pagan blogger and lecturer Jason Mankey did not disappoint and delivered a wonderful presentation on "The Horned God of the British Isles.” Later that day, Wiccan priestess Mistress Belladonna had our foreheads burning and pulsing from a guided meditation. Honestly, I have not been the same since. It was a delightful journey towards the inner realms, through a locked door and into a hidden garden. Several folks were so relaxed that they drifted off to sleep! However for us, it was nearly as if we had our third eye poked.

Late that evening, Kirk Thomas led his ADF grove in an enlightening ritual. It was our first time experiencing a Druid ritual first hand. We tend to enjoy more free-form expressions ourselves, however, when the Druids do a ritual it is quite an event: intense and emotionally evocative. Despite the more rigid framework, we were impressed with how smoothly the grove handled the minor mishap of an overturned candle.

We also took a drumming lesson and learned of the African God, Ba Ku Ba, a lesson that resonates each time we pick up a drum. Wrapped around all of this was an awesome raffle with wonderful prizes to be had. Unfortunately we came up empty on that count, but fingers crossed for this year!

We hit upon this topic as we set our compass needle once again to this year’s gathering.  Convocation 2015: Journey's End,  A New World Begins. We can hardly lose, with guests of honor such as Andras Corbian-Arthen, spiritual director of the Earth Spirit Community, as well as award-winning authors like Dorothy Morrison and Ellen Dugan and featured presenters Jason Mankey (Woot! We love him!),  Eli Sheva, leader of Am Ha Aretz (Primitive Hebrew Assembly) and Kenn Day, well known shaman, author and teacher, and many others. Then there’s the largest indoor drum circle in the midwest, and another huge raffle of unbelievably cool stuff….

Whew!!  We will let you know how things turn out next Sunday!  We are so stoked and ready to soar! ** looks for a third eye patch **

☮, ♥ & ♫  ♩ ♪  The Moonyaks

Apples in the Mist

Apples in the Mist

There we were… sitting in the front study. I was reading The Mists of Avalon, when I asked the question... “Was there an actual land called Ys?” Ms Moonyak replied, “Yes, there was a mythical Island of Ys.” The story (translated by Christian monks) was that it was submerged by God because of its sinful people. As the city sank, a monk touched the princess with the cross and banished her beneath the sea…. The world began to shift and spin, and we were off on another research adventure!  As it happens she was reading Woman of the Celts, which was hitting on the topic of the “Submerged” Feminine.

What is Submerged Feminine you ask?  In brief, it’s the idea that as patriarchal society emerged in Europe, any power associated with the feminine was suppressed as a threat--often symbolically submerged, in myths of islands ruled by women and frightening women who possessed arcane knowledge, magic, and immortality. Think about mermaids--magical women, living in the unattainable depths of the sea, both attractive and threatening to sailors, who might drown in an attempt to reach them.

Stories about women being somehow dangerous bring to mind the myth of Pandora’s Box (the ancient Greek translates more correctly to “Jar”). Some scholars have pointed out the feminine associations of a box or container, because it is like a symbolic womb, a container of unseen things. Pandora opened her box, thus its secrets were no longer contained and they wreaked havoc on humanity. Talk about your dangerous women! Go, girl power!

Often feminine power is associated with secret and forbidden knowledge. For example, throughout Europe a number of cultural traditions, folk stories, and myths tell of islands of powerful or magical women. Placing these mythical women on islands makes them distant: surrounded by water (itself symbolically female), difficult to get to, separated from everyday existence--after all, the word “isolated” literally means “like an island.”  In The Odyssey, for example, Odysseus is captured and has to outwit not one, but two sorceresses living on islands (Circe and Calypso). In Britain, there is the mystical isle of Avalon, sometimes said to be ruled by nine priestesses including the legendary Morgan LeFey, sister of King Arthur.

Speaking of Avalon, a.k.a. the Isle of Apples, let’s talk about apples and the submerged feminine. A lovely, rounded object with seeds hidden deep within--an apple is a natural symbol of the feminine. It is often associated with magic and the feminine, and often enough, with negative ideas about women.

• In the Hebrew bible’s book of Genesis, the unnamed forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden is an apple in European tradition, because “apple” was a generic word for fruit in Middle English. In this tradition, the original woman brought evil into the human world by eating the fruit of knowledge and sharing it with the first man.  
• Greek mythology captures this same mix of magical apples and feminine troublemaking in the Garden of Hesperides, where the golden apples of immortality grew. The goddess Eris stole one and caused disruption that led to the Trojan War. You may also recall that one of Hercules’ labors was to steal these apples.
• Norse mythology mentions the goddess Idun was the keeper of the golden apples that allowed the gods to remain forever young. By being tricked and kidnapped, Idun causes the gods to grow old. In this story, though, Loki is the bad guy.
• Seven other European fairy tales that begin with lost or stolen apples can be found here:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_apple

HIdden within the fabric of the earth’s languages is an enticing flow weaving apples through time and cultures. These appear in the form of cognate names, but to understand it you first need to know a little about linguistics. Grimm’s law is a complicated linguistic concept developed by Jakob Grimm (one of the Grimm brothers of fairy tale fame). The law shows that, among Indo European languages, there is a predictable way in which consonants can stand in for each other. This means that the words for the same thing in different languages might use different sounds and still be related (“cognate”). In very simplified terms, let’s just say that while any vowels might be used, consonants like “f” and “p” can be interchangeable, as can “d” and “t”-- so, Latin pod becomes foot in English. Other letters can do the same.

Important for this discussion is that “p” can also be “f” or “b” or “v” in different related languages. So, German apfel  and English apple and Welsh afal  and old Irish ubull and Russian yabloko and Lithuanian obuolys and Czech jablko...as you can see, they are very different words, but all contain a vowel followed by the p or f or b or v + l combination. This is how Grimm’s law tells us that all of these words for “apple” came from the same parent language. It’s also how we know that several islands in Europe derive their names from apples.

[To see this linguistic rule in action, take a look at this fascinating interactive map of European languages..although Indo European languages do range beyond Europe, toward the Indian subcontinent.]

Bundling this all up is the aforementioned Isle of Apples, combining the isolated or submerged feminine with the symbol of female troublemaking, the apple. In our search for some supporting evidence of this bundle, we happened upon three examples. Avalon in Britain, in the Irish, Emain Ablach, and in Welsh, Ynys Afallach.  (Yes, there it is Ynys! The Isle of Ys!) Notice the familiar signs of “apple” cognates in these three. A-V-aL-on, A-B-L-ach, and A-Fa-Llach. They are all mythical islands of apples! Additionally, they are all the subjects of myths and tales that they are magical islands inhabited by women. Other mythologized islands of apples include the Isle of Abalum in the Baltic, and an island called Abbella Malifera by the Romans.

There may be a number of conclusions to be drawn from all this, but here we are only presenting some information we have found. It is our fondest wish that our readers will help us continue this interesting intermingling of submerged feminine and islands of apples. Please share your own knowledge in the comments!

Further reading / resources and summaries:

Avalon is often regarded as the realm of the sea god Manannán Mac Lir and associated with either the Isle of Man or the Isle of Arran. Another story locates this an island in the far West, concealed from view by a wall of spray, where the giants kept the golden apples that they had stolen from the gods. Some say it was ruled by Morgan le Fay, leader of nine fairy queens.

Some other names associated with Avalon as identified at http://www.mythologydictionary.com/avalon-mythology.html we have Apple Island, Assysla, Avallo, Avalun, Avilion, Avalloc, Fortunate Isle, Island of Blessed Souls, Isle of Glass, and Orelan.

On the east side of the Baltic in Estonia we have yet another Isle of apples, Isle of Abalum. It is called Oesel in Swedish and Saaremaa in it’s native Estonian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saaremaa “It has been inhabited since 5000 BCE as evidenced by archeological studies.” This area was influenced by the Danes, Finnish, Swedes and its native Virionian tribe was part of the overall Viking collective. This area remained predominantly Pagan until the Northern Crusades from 1147 C.E. through 1410 C.E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Crusades. “Through the campaigns of the east Baltic crusades, the pagan world was transformed by military conquest. It underwent defeat, baptism, military occupation and sometimes extermination by Christian groups of Danes, Germans and Swedes.”

In our last example of an Isle of apples we have Abbella Malifera. While researching this we found a link to another name Isle of Abalus. Reseach of this led to Baltia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltia.  Then, yet another reference from the Romans to the Greeks and a renowned explorer from the 3rd century B.C., Pytheas of Massalia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas, who recorded highly values gems in the form of amber.  We tie the whole island-hopping jaunt off as, this is the Isle of Abalum where archaeologists have found natural amber. http://www.eesti.ca/estonian-archaeologist-finds-natural-amber-in-waters-off-saaremaa-island/print37028.

OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids) additional material on the Tree Lore of Apples. http://www.druidry.org/library/trees/tree-lore-apple

Works Cited

Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.

Markale, Jean. Women of the Celts. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, Ltd.,  

1986. [Translated edition, original in French]

Introducing....Us!

Inception. 

There we were. Enjoying a wonderful meal and exchanging fantastical ideas,  when the topic, bounding like a rubber ball in a squash court, touched on a starting our own blog...  Boom!  The thought sat there like a mountain...then it grew legs.  Well, why not?!  We began working through titles and names. Ideas flew like a hummingbird with ADD...then it was settled. The Moon Yaks: Pagan musings, tangents, sojourns and boondoggles.

What the hell are Moon Yaks you ask?  Well, that is just one example of the swirl of creative thinking that we share.  The Moon Yak is a lesser known spirit guide, of course!  Lesser known, that is, to the uninitiated... You'll have to tune into the blog to find out more.  Nonetheless, it is our chosen guise to pilot ourselves into the future.

Nothing could be more exemplary of us and our pagan journey together.  We think, we dream, we Love, we live, in never ending spirals, climbing, entwining. We read and research and discuss. Unfolding before us is a vast landscape of knowledge and discovery. How fun and fulfilling it will be to share what we learn as we go, to create a way to discuss what we find and what we think about with interested others!

Let this project be a seed planted on Imbolc, growing ever tall and strong, just like our journey and life together. Come with us to distant lands and times long ago when the people lived their connection to the land deeply, spiritually, profoundly. And come, too, as we visit modern expressions of these connections and write about what we see along the way.

~Blessed Be!